Despite its affirmation of the traditional Apostles’ Creed, the NAK maintains an assortment of unorthodox beliefs. It emphasizes living apostles (dozens at a time), affirming that "those baptised with water must receive the Holy Spirit through an apostle, to obtain the childhood in God, whereby they become incorporated as members in the body of Christ." In the NAK’s "doctrine of Service for the Departed" it is said that "the sacraments of the church are dispensed to living proxies for the blessing and benefit of the departed" (an especially attractive belief in cultures that traditionally practice the veneration of ancestors).

include the failure of an official prophecy claiming that Friedrich Bischoff (the church’s third Chief Apostle, who died in 1960) would live until Christ’s return, as well as accusations of collusion with the Nazi regime during WWII.

The NAK has a somewhat secretive quality, evidently to elude the kinds of well-publicized controversies common to other large new religious movements. Nevertheless, its history has been marked by significant schisms in Europe and Africa. The NAK should not be confused with "Oneness" (anti-Trinitarian) apostolics or the "new apostolic" movement among charismatics.

The church’s official web site states that "Africa is home to nearly 80 percent of all New Apostolic Christians and more than half of all the apostles of the New Apostolic Church." It is also strong in German-speaking countries. In January of 2015 it claimed to have “Almost nine million members in nearly 190 countries.”